JPMorgan Adds Crypto Policy Head After Dimon’s ‘Ponzi’ Quip (1)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has hired a new head of digital asset regulatory policy, less than a month after CEO Jamie Dimon told lawmakers that cryptocurrencies are “decentralized Ponzi schemes.”

Aaron Iovine joined the company this week as managing director of digital asset regulatory policy, a newly created role, a JPMorgan spokeswoman confirmed. He was previously head of policy and regulation for cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network Ltd., whose bankruptcy filing has rattled the digital asset market.

JPMorgan is looking to expand its political ranks in the evolving digital asset space amid increased regulatory scrutiny and a decline in cryptocurrency values.

Iovine did not respond to a request for comment.

Dimon and other JPMorgan executives have been vocal critics of digital assets.

Dimon’s “Ponzi scheme” comments came Sept. 21 in congressional testimony, where he called himself a “big skeptic of crypto tokens.” Takis Georgakopoulos, global head of payments at JPMorgan, told Bloomberg Television last month that he sees “very little” demand for cryptocurrencies as a payment tool.

JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon testifies at the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on September 22, 2022.

Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg

In addition to hiring Iovine, JPMorgan this month posted an opening for a digital asset advisor position at its corporate and investment bank.

Stacey Friedman, who has been JPMorgan’s general counsel since 2015, did not respond to a request for comment about the New York-based financial giant’s interest in lawyers familiar with distributed ledger technology.

A JPMorgan spokeswoman declined to comment on Friedman and Iovine’s behalf.

Iovine will work with JPMorgan’s regulatory affairs group, which a year ago welcomed aboard former Davis Polk & Wardwell senior associate Sharon Yang as managing director and global head of regulatory affairs. Yang previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Financial Markets at the Ministry of Finance.

Celsius hired Iovine earlier this year from Cross River Bank, a digital asset-friendly regional lender. The company recently brought on Benjamin Melnicki from Robinhood Markets Inc. to be its head of cryptocurrency compliance and regulation.

Iovine, who like Melnicki is also an attorney, spent nearly three years at Cross River, where he led policy and regulatory affairs. Cross River hired Iovine in 2019 after he spent nearly a year as a senior regulatory analyst at the law firm White & Case.

During the first quarter of this year, Iovine was part of a Cross River team that lobbied Congress on “general issues focused on financial services, fintech partnerships and the Paycheck Protection Program,” according to a public filing.

Iovine left Fort Lee, N.J.-based Cross River in February to join Celsius, according to his LinkedIn profile. An online bio lists Iovine’s expertise “exploring the future of financial services while working at the intersection of law, policy and regulation.”

He left Celsius in September, two months after the cryptocurrency rewards and lending platform filed for bankruptcy in New York.

The Chapter 11 case has already generated large legal bills for Kirkland & Ellis — court documents show the latter has received at least $3.5 million in kickbacks — and other firms. It has also sparked fraud allegations against London-based Celsius by a former employee of the company, whom the debtor has accused of fraud.

A bankruptcy filing for the Celsius case shows that Iovine’s name appears on a list of thousands of unsecured creditors with claims against the company. Among them is Ron Deutsch, a former attorney at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison hired last year by Celsius as general counsel and head of mergers and acquisitions.